Remember that old commercial, “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” That’s a question we will soon be asking about what we see, not just what we hear, thanks to the development of a technology called Augmented Reality. Using a device’s camera, GPS, Bluetooth, digital compass, wifi, and other networking and input capabilities, you can turn reality into a video game, run through “what if” scenarios, or get a text or video overlay on something that they are looking at.
Example: You’re checking out what movie to see at the multiplex, and you forgot to check out the reviews. With an AR app on your phone, you could point your phone at a movie poster, and then get reviews displayed on the screen, without having to press any buttons! More sophisticated versions would let you see a trailer, or even buy tickets. It’s not at all science fiction – actually, an application like this exists for some Nokia smartphones, and there are already a slew of AR apps for Androids and cellphones (I could have used this onewhen I installed my non-YES satellite dish a couple of months ago!)
As it turns out, an Israeli company called Ogmento, is deeply involved in developing AR applications, especially for the iPhone. If you want to try it on the web, check out the application they developed for Vampire Academy. Scary!
1) From the presentation by Steve Jobs introducing the device, it appears that they will be having a deal with AT&T in the U.S. for the 3G network connection (confirmed, as AT&T announced that it will be offering unlimited iPad connection for $15/$30 a month). On the other hand, the iPad does have wifi, so you can easily bring one in and use it on any wifi network.
2) The new device is apparently unlocked as well, meaning you should be able to use any SIM card you want – but you may not be able to, because it will be using a new “micro” (3FF) SIM that you may not be able to get from other carriers. According to Engadget, “In fact, from AT&T’s perspective, this is better than a software lock in some ways — you’re not going to be able to download a hack that gets you on another network, so you’re totally at the mercy of your carrier at choice for providing a compatible card.”
3) Meaning that when considering official imports of the iPad, iDigital, Israel’s authorized distributor (which is NOT an Apple Store!) will have to work out deals with Apple for the import of the device, deals with one (all) of the cellphone companies for the 3G network (it’s hard to imagine Apple authorizing the imports without that, even though there is a wifi only version), and deals with someone to manufacture a SIM card for the Israeli market.
4) And, since the content you will be able to download, sync and use will be coming from the iTunes store (with Kindle-like book syncing probably to be added to music and video downloading, which will be an issue EVEN with the wifi-only version of the iPad) – access to which Israelis still don’t have even on “ancient” iPods and already old-hat Kindles – don’t look for the iPad to be officially sold here any time soon.
“Regarding [the iPad's] reaching Israel, it is still too early to determine [when, how and if that will happen]. We are acting in accordance with Apple policy, but we are working with the world [Apple] organization in regards to localization.”
So I was looking for something to blog about when I decided to write about my new favorite phone program, TuneWiki – when I came across this press release that said that it was actually an Israeli-made program! But of course that makes sense – of course it would be an Israeli company that came up with the ultimate on-the-go music/social/internet program out there!
TuneWiki turns listening to music into an event – a social event. You can use it to play music on your device’s library (there’s a version for Symbian, iPhone, and Android), and display the lyrics and album cover art. Not only do the lyrics automatically show up for any song, but they display “karaoke style” – meaning they change in the window as each line of the song is sung. You also get access to videos of the song on Youtube – TuneWiki will create a page of all the videos with the name of the song you’re listening to (not necessarily only by the artist performing the version you’re hearing), which you can play just by clicking on it.
TuneWiki works not only with your device’s music library – it can also play any online Shoutcast station! The app connects with a mobile version of the Shoutcast service, where thousands of stations of all genres are available right on your phone! I have three different internet radio apps on my Nokia XM5800, and none really work (two do absolutely nothing and one connects to just a few stations). TuneWiki “picks up” all the stations, even the high-bandwidth ones (tip: when you connect on 3G, go for the lower bandwidth stations). If for nothing else, TuneWiki is invaluable for its Shoutcast component, finally giving phone users real access to online music.
But wait, there’s more! My favorite part of TuneWiki is its social component. On the TuneWiki menu there is feature called “Where is this song playing,” which connects you to other TuneWiki users listening to the same song you are right now! You can then follow/connect with those listeners, and check out what each of you are listening to anytime. When you follow someone, they send the name of their selections to your “song inbox,” and you can display the lyrics, as well as play the songs on your device (there were buffering issues, though). And, you can comment on any song to Twitter or Facebook, with a “blip,” either “love it” or “hate it,” or give a whole commentary (140 characters or less, of course!)
And the best part? It’s all free! I don’t want to give the TuneWiki people any ideas, but one question I am dying to ask TuneWiki CEO Rani Cohen is – why aren’t they charging for this app, considering so many apps of much lesser capability seem to be selling very well?
So the iPhone finally came to Israel – overdue and overpriced. As I predicted, I might add (not that you had to be such a genius to figure it out!).
Don’t bother. The iPhone is so “this year” (maybe even “last year”). Save up your money so you can buy the real game changer – the First Else, made by Else (formerly Emblaze Mobile). I interviewed the CEO of Else for Israel21c.org (look for the full article there) and saw the First Else live and in person.
And it’s like no other phone you’ve ever seen! The video below doesn’t do it justice. This is an elegant – dare I say it? – work of art, that was ergonomically designed from the ground up to provide maximum usability and minimum (actually zero) futzing around.
I don’t want to give away too much because I want you to read the whole article (I’ll link it when it comes out), but I wanted to be sure to let you know what the future holds. Else CEO Amir Kuperveis and I discussed much about the philosophy behind the First Else (appropriate for a device that was designed from the bottom up), comparing it, of course, to the iPhone. Suffice to say that the one advantage the iPhone has – the thousands of apps you can install in order to improve functionality – comes off as a primitive band-aid solution to getting your device to work the way you want.
In the end, the cell device is about getting things done – and the ease of use in the First Else (here’s a tidbit: you can do everything – but everything – that you need to do on the phone with one finger, your thumb! It was designed that way) blows away any and every device on the market. If the First Else is a color high-def digitalTV, the iPhone is an ancient early color analog set – while my Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is like radio!
One of the great things about a smartphone is the ability it gives you to connect to the wider world – through its data connection. And now, with relatively fast 3G internet networks, you can really hook into lots of great services. While the iPhone usually gets most of the glory, plain old Symbian or Windows devices can do most of us just fine.
For instance, I like having the option of hooking up internet phone calls on my cellphone using Skype. Skype has an application, called Skype Lite, which lets Java phone users dial into Skype via a regular cell phone call, with the call forwarded from the local connection to your Skype contact anywhere in the world. That’s a great way to save on international phone calls, but if you want to avoid the phone call charge itself, you can make a free Skype call using your smartphone, if you’re using a wifi connection. What if there’s no wifi? A smartphone lets you easily switch between the different connection options, such as WAP or 3G.
My Nokia 5800 phone is a Symbian device, and as of now Skype doesn’t have a native application for Symbians. So, I use an app called Nimbuzz, which very neatly lets you connect with your Skype account and call your contacts – as well as your the contacts in your phone book (I used Fring for awhile, but found Nimbuzz to be much neater in its approach).
Other notable apps that let you hook up with the rest of the world: Qik, a great app that lets you broadcast (via e-mail, Twitter and Facebook) whatever is happening around your phone live to the rest of the world; vTap, a video sharing site for mobiles; and Waze (http://www.waze.co.il or http://www.waze.com), which uses your phone’s GPS settings to determine where you are, and informs you of traffic problems or speed traps in your area.
As I wrote in the Jerusalem Post, you can connect to services like these via wifi, or 3G. But when using cellular internet, you are being charged by the kilobyte for all data you transfer on the network. For Orange customers, for example, the basic surfing package gives you almost unlimited surfing within the Orange site network, but once you try and connect to the rest of the world, you find that the 30 MB in data transfer you get with the basic NIS 21 package just isn’t enough.
Unfortunately, the concept of unlimited data connection is unknown in Israel, unlike in the rest of the world. On the other hand, the commensurate cost of the data connection is cheaper, because you get to choose from one of four data connection packages, so you can decide how much or how little you want to spend. Fortunately for me, I’m able to do a lot of my work in wifi-friendly environments, so I use my phone’s wifi connection to connect to most of the cool services I use. But having that 3G backup “insurance policy” is essential; for example, I was able to use soft modem Joikuspot to get my work done while helping my wife keep vigil recently at the hospital for a sick relative.
Having already received a warning that I was running out of allocated data time, I decided to upgrade from the 30 MB to the 150 MB package, which costs NIS 41 a month (to fund it, I dropped the GPS, which was NIS 21 a month, so my bill is essentially the same). The next package in the series, 5GB of data connection time, should put paid to any concerns I would have about going over the transfer limit; but that package is NIS 81 a month.
Since I don’t want to pay any more on my monthly bill than I already do, I didn’t upgrade to the 5GB plan – but if I could drop another NIS 40 in existing services that I don’t need as much, I would. Unfortunately, since most of my bill consists of set charges (for minutes and SMS usage), there’s almost nothing I can cut out without going to a different call package. But if I could shave off some of that cost – maybe take a package that doesn’t include 200 free SMS messages (I don’t use nearly that many), I could cut down the talk package and apply that money to the data package.
So here’s what I’m planning to do: I’d like to call Orange and figure out what the absolute cheapest package they offer is, and figure out whether signing up for that, along with the 5 GB data package (or even the 20 GB package, for NIS 80), comes out cheaper. My wife, for example, pays a basic charge of NIS 8.57 per month, and then by the minute (about 60 agurot). Which sounds expensive, and would be if I used it to talk the 200 plus minutes a month I usually use my cellphone. But – what if I were to make all my calls using Nimbuzz/Skype? I’d still have to pay SkypeOut minutes if I call non-Skype customers, but maybe that would be cheaper than paying for the cell phone minutes.
And even if it cost the same (I suspect it would), I would have the greater flexibility of being able to use the data package anyway I wanted, which is much more efficient than having services I don’t really need or want (extra SMS messages, which Orange is always giving away for free anyway – their latest promo was 1,000 free messages in honor of Ramadan!). With 5GB (or 20GB!) of data connection, I wouldn’t even have to use Skype; I could contact everyone directly on Facebook, Messenger, or e-mail, with actual talking over Skype taking place only when necessary (how many times do we just need to convey information, as opposed to getting into a conversation, when calling colleagues, customers, etc.? That’s why SMS messages are so popular!). If nothing else, this would be a cool topic to write about. I figure I could get three columns out of it!
I’m always on the outlook for cheap cellphones, considering how much I (and my wife and three teenagers who have lost a coule over the years) depend on them. But I got tired of getting ripped off by Orange, Pelephone, et al, not so much for the service, but for the old phones they try to pawn off on us, selling them for twice the price they retail for when new! As I wrote a couple of years ago, all you had to do was compare the web stores for the Israeli phone companies where they list the prices for their devices, and compare them to the prices you can buy them for unlocked on Amazon.
I even proved that it could pay for Israelis to order the phone; even after you pay the customs and the sales tax and shipping, the “full price” devices the Israeli companies are selling can be had from sites like Amazon for a third of the price! And when it comes to the “kosher” phones they market to the Chareid public, the Israeli cellphone companies outdo themselves; for their “mehadrin” lines, they take TEN year old analog phones (probably purchased for 2 cents on the dollar!) and sell them for even MORE than they charge for the latest 3G phones!
So, I took a conscious decision a couple of years ago – never again would I buy a phone from Orange (with whom I currently have my account). Instead, I order unlocked tri- or quad-band GSM phones from Amazon, to be brought back either by me or by friends. Comparing the prices, it made sense.
Somehow, though, this week I found myself in an Orange store – where I saw their latest ads for the latest “deals” they were offering. Like a dog that’s been whipped one too many times, I of course looked the other way – but the salesperson was available and I had to wait around for something anyway. One of the deals showed a tiered pricing system on some devices – like, if you speak a certain number of minutes a month, you pay less for the device. Maybe there was a deal to be had. Who knew?
So I asked. I explained to the salesperson what my strategy was, and how I was going to save a ton of money buying a top of the line, relatively new phone directly and unlocked. He checked his computer and told me, “well, you speak about 200 minutes a month and pay X amount per month on that phone. So you’re a good candidate for a deal.” Yeah, but how good?
“How about this: I’ll give you the Nokia for 499, and a package for 18 months that will give you 200 minutes, 200 SMS messages, 3G internet (the device has wifi too), and I’ll even throw in two months of GPS free.” 499!?! But I told him I was paying 299.
It took me a couple of seconds (yes, I can be “slow”), but then it hit me. This is Israel! And he’s offering me a $299 phone for NIS 499 (in six interest-free payments) – which is about $140 at current exchange rates! Not to mention the 35% I am now saving on my actual phone use! And, to top it off, he threw four Orange painter caps into the bag with the phone (and we all know that we die for the cute “freebies” the cellphone companies give out!).
I’ve been checking the phone out, and it seems to work. I’ve also been searching all over for a “refurbished” sticker and I can’t find one. I mean, there must be a catch! Why would Orange be selling this phone so cheap (of course, they should really be giving these things away, like companies in the rest of the world do). The only issue I could find is that phones manufactured before February 2009 may have an issue with the earpiece getting loose. I haven’t been able to determine the manufacture date of this unit (logic would say that these discounted phones are leftover stock that had problems, but equal logic would say that it’s unlikely Orange or any retailer would have had such a large stock of phones left over from more than six months ago). However, if this is one of the problem phones, I’ve got a one year manufacturer’s warranty, so I’m covered there. Still scratching my head, though – what’s come over Orange to make them so “generous?”
(P.S.: This happy occurence does not make me more optimistic about the pricing structure for the iPhone when it finally comes out in Israel. I explain why here).
Yes, the iPhone is coming to Israel, but I wouldn’t get too excited – unless you like overpaying and getting stuck with what’s probably going to be a whopper of a voice/data plan. If I know the Israeli phone companies, customers who buy the iPhone from the carriers – Orange Israel (Partner Communications) and Pelephone – are going to be paying… and paying… and paying some more!
How do I know? Because that’s just the way things work here. Israeli cell phone companies don’t give out any free lunches – or free phones. Unlike in America, where they give you a phone for nothing (or for a very nominal cost) when you sign up for a plan. Here, you have to buy the phone, for full price – and then some!
Yes, you can pay it off in 36 payments, at NIS 29 a month. So what. Even over three years at 21% interest, with minimum monthly payments, it comes out a little cheaper buying it from Amazon!
But that’s not the worst part. The worst part is that this phone is an OLD phone (old in “cellphone age,” that is). It was announced almost a year ago and went on sale last fall (2008). That’s why it’s marked down at Amazon from its $319.99 original price (the original Orange price was correspondingly higher, too). Here, Orange isn’t selling this phone unlocked; it expects you to use it for the next three years, and is treating it like a premium/top of the technology product! Not that there’s anything wrong with this Sony model (we have several Sony phones and they’ve all been great). But why do we have to pay top shekel for older phones that they’re giving away for nothing in the U.S.? Correction – they’re not even giving away that phone anymore; it’s too old! The phones they’re giving away are phones like the Blackberry Curve 8900, the LG CU920, and the Samsung i637. Just for signing up for a plan!
So how much do you think they’re going to want for the latest top of the line iPhone? Answer: It doesn’t matter. Given the history of phone costs in Israel, I predict that regardless of what they decide to charge (note that iDigital, the Israel Apple reseller – which is NOT an Apple Store – is buying the phones from Apple and reselling them), it will be cheaper to spend the $100 on the iPhone in the States, sign up for a month of AT&T service and then pay the cancellation fee ($175) plus other various and sundry costs!
P.S.: There’s much more to say about taking the cell phone service providers taking top shekel for outmoded cellphones; the biggest scam has to be how the companies bought up old analog cellphones for pennies, rebranded them, and sold them for ridiculous amounts of money to Haredim as “kosher” phones. But that’s for another post!
Israel is the world leader in hi-tech innovations. So many of the internet, cellphone, and gadget inventions that make our lives easier and more fun are born right here in Israel! Get the inside track on the newest ideas and innovations in our bi-weekly Digital Israel Newsletter. Sign up right here!
Remember that old commercial, “Is it live, or is it Memorex?” That’s a question we will soon be asking about what we see, not just what we hear, thanks to the development of a technology called Augmented Reality. Using a device’s camera, GPS, Bluetooth, digital compass, wifi, and other networking and input capabilities, you can turn reality into a video game, run through “what if” scenarios, or get a text or video overlay on something that they are looking at.
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=e654586f-bf2c-4780-9ab3-bdede7cbae29)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=15f5457a-ef4f-4cff-9253-a7657b47eef9)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=208f8882-c6da-4a04-99d1-09a62c5d8b40)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=f1322d44-b069-4cb8-829e-99f0356e7874)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=871edeca-3eb1-4cfb-bdf3-5621d425d2dc)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=aef5ab17-2982-4b81-9b65-2c70deb775bf)
![Reblog this post [with Zemanta]](http://img.zemanta.com/reblog_e.png?x-id=cf77b862-bdb2-4916-82cb-a7656f462baf)
Entries (RSS)